Hanging Unistrut in the Basement

[rjbergen]

I’m a home brewer and brew beer in the basement. I’m looking to hang some Unistrut from the joists so that I can use a trolley and locking pulley to assist in lifting kegs and heavy, wet grain baskets. The kegs weigh 60 lbs and will be lifted up and over my keezer. I currently do this manually, but it’s getting old. The grain basket on brew day can contain up to 35 lbs of grain that’s soaked in water. Total weight, including the weight of the basket is about 75 lbs. We’re not talking heavy loads here, just not ergonomic to lift without assistance.

Anyways, the floor joists above run parallel to the direction I want the Unistrut. In fact, for the keezer, the joist is basically exactly where I want the Unistrut. I can’t simply lag bolt in to the bottom of the joist without significantly weakening it. What’s my best solution?

Should I screw blocking in between the joists and mount Unistrut to that?

 

[Jackfre]

Why not? Lifting weight in a confined space with a precious cargo?

 

[BlindViper]

Use unistrut to span multiple floor joists, then bolt you track where you want it.

 

[PoorUB]

For the load you are talking about it will not be a problem screwing the strut to one joist, heck 75 pounds is nothing. If you were asking about 750 pounds I would agree there would be an issue.

I can't imagine a floor joist that couldn't handle it.

You don't need very large screws either.

These would do nicely for the weight you are dealing with. Spax screws

 

[GeoBruin]

 

[quickfarms]

What I would use is barn door track and one trolley, the weight you are talking about is nothing, I know it feels like a lot.

 

[jack stand]

And if your still concerned, depending on interfering wiring, plumbing, etc. you could "sister" another floor joist to the existing one.

 

[Innovate1]

If the joist is 2 x lumber I see no problem. If they are I joists then you need to be a bit more careful with attachment to the lower web. In that case I might span a couple joists.

 

[mike93lx]

If your joists can't handle 75 lbs, you better not be walking around upstairs.

 

[rjbergen]

Use unistrut to span multiple floor joists, then bolt you track where you want it.

But how do I attach to the joists? Being floor joists, I can’t run a piece of strut on top of the joists and drop threaded rod down.

I’ve always been taught not to put holes outside the center 1/3 of a 2x joist. While I know it would support the weight, something just tells me running a screw into the bottom face of the 2x joist isn’t the best thing for the joists strength.

Maybe I’m overthinking this for the 3-4 screws I would use in 2 joists.

I know the weight isn’t an issue. I’m concerned with attached the strut without compromising the integrity of the joist by putting holes in the wrong spots

 

[Copymutt]

That Simpson tie can go on the side of your joist. No issue w/ screw holes.
Cheers

 

[rlitman]

But how do I attach to the joists? Being floor joists, I can’t run a piece of strut on top of the joists and drop threaded rod down.

I’ve always been taught not to put holes outside the center 1/3 of a 2x joist. While I know it would support the weight, something just tells me running a screw into the bottom face of the 2x joist isn’t the best thing for the joists strength.

Maybe I’m overthinking this for the 3-4 screws I would use in 2 joists.

I know the weight isn’t an issue. I’m concerned with attached the strut without compromising the integrity of the joist by putting holes in the wrong spots

You're totally overthinking this. Cheap lag bolts over 1/4" or so are may indeed damage the joist (not from it's load bearing ability, but a longitudinal split can allow the bolt to pull out), but modern Spax screws, even 3/8" should be fine screwed right into a 2x joist without even pre-drilling.

Do you really need it exactly under a joist? If you want to split the load across joists, run blocking between two joists (2x4 would be fine), and hang from that. You can even through bolt it then. Or use the Simpson side hangers pictured above if you really feel the need. But your loads don't call for it.

Lastly, commercial trolleys don't fit through Kindorf with bolt heads inside the track, so unless you're planning on hanging it from the ends only, you'll need to think about that. If you're talking about loads under 100 lbs, and Kindorf under 5', then end support may be fine. Otherwise, you'll want the open ended hanger brackets that allow a trolley to pass underneath:

 

[rjbergen]

You're totally overthinking this. Cheap lag bolts over 1/4" or so are may indeed damage the joist (not from it's load bearing ability, but a longitudinal split can allow the bolt to pull out), but modern Spax screws, even 3/8" should be fine screwed right into a 2x joist without even pre-drilling.

Do you really need it exactly under a joist? If you want to split the load across joists, run blocking between two joists (2x4 would be fine), and hang from that. You can even through bolt it then. Or use the Simpson side hangers pictured above if you really feel the need. But your loads don't call for it.

Lastly, commercial trolleys don't fit through Kindorf with bolt heads inside the track, so unless you're planning on hanging it from the ends only, you'll need to think about that. If you're talking about loads under 100 lbs, and Kindorf under 5', then end support may be fine. Otherwise, you'll want the open ended hanger brackets that allow a trolley to pass underneath:

Thanks. I do have the hangers.

Thinking I’ll either use the Simpson ties or install blocking.

 

[Innovate1]

If you do barn door track it has brackets that attach to the side of the joist.

But for that weight you are overthinking this. Consider this - for my garage door tracks (18' wide door) they used 1/4" lag bolts into a 2 x 4 which was part of the roof truss. The lumber is smaller and the weight is more so is worse structurally than your case. As was suggested you could use other types of screws that are thinner and have thinner heads (might be an issue with clearance in the track if using unistrut.

 

[PoorUB]

Seriously??!!
2X framing? Just use the Spax screws I posted. put in a screw every foot. You are way over thinking this. I can't tell you how far out you are on over thinking this. Like way out in left field over thinking it!

If it helps. I have a overhead hoist in may garage. I broke every rule in mounting it to the ceiling. The ceiling in that part of the garage is over built as the previous owner had a deck on the roof which I have since removed. 24 foot span. So there is floor joists in the ceiling of may garage, great for storage!

With this hoist, my intent was to hang less than 1,000 pounds on it. Pull a engine from a car, less than 500 pounds usually. I mounted two tracks to the ceiling, each track has several cross pieces so each track spans two joists. The cross pieces were lag bolted to the bottom of the joists with 3/8" lag bolts. This hoist has been up for years and I have hung over 2,000 pounds on it a couple times.

So do you get where I am coming from? 75 pounds versus 2,000 pounds in the similar situation.

Just screw the damn unistrut to the bottom of the joists!!

Sorry I get wound up sometimes!

 

[nadogail]

Sometimes we were wrongly taught by the well meaning but poorly informed.

 

[CraigStu]

I'd use the Spax screws in a heartbeat. Although I probably wouldn't bother you could pre drill for them to alleviate your concern about splitting the 2X.